July 6, 2007                    

Linwood Elementary School Arts Integration Program Featured on Cover of National Education Publication, “The Achiever”

Program at OKCPS’ A+ School Credited with Raising Student Scores to Well Above Target Levels

(Oklahoma City, OK) – Oklahoma City Public Schools Linwood Elementary School is featured on the cover of “The Achiever”, a national No Child Left Behind publication by the U.S. Department of Education.  The article highlights the school’s arts integration program that has quickly raised student scores to at least 40 percent above the state’s target levels.

“It is an honor for Oklahoma City Public Schools to be represented in a national publication distributed by the U.S. Department of Education.  There’s an extremely high focus on daily arts instruction at Linwood.  Instruction is used in interdisciplinary themes with the use of multiple intelligences to structure new learning opportunities for students.  The students at Linwood are taught through experiential learning and enriched assessment”, said DeAnn Davis, Executive Director of Student Performance for Linwood Elementary.

“Being featured in ‘The Achiever’ brings a great sense of pride to Linwood Elementary and the entire community.   Our success is a direct result of the teachers, students and parents who are so dedicated to increasing student achievement”, Linwood Principal, Susan Combs said.

The arts curriculum is part of the larger program, Oklahoma A+ Schools, a whole school reform model established in 2000 to create enhanced learning opportunities for all students by using arts-integrated instruction.  “Because they’re part of the A+ network, they receive a great deal of networking with other A+ schools across the state”, added Davis.

Besides increasing the student’s scores, the program has earned Linwood the Oklahoma Title I Academic Achievement Award.  After being one of just five schools presented with the Excellence in Education Award, Linwood received an honor from the National Center for Urban School Transformation.

To read the full article, go to:

http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/achiever/2007/0607.pdf

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